Lights in the sky

February 22, 2007

By Nick Lomb

Sydney Observatory often receives reports from the public about mysterious and unexplained sightings in the sky. Many of these are fireballs, which are small rocks from space hitting the Earth’s atmosphere at high speed and burning up brightly as they reach the denser parts of the atmosphere about 30 or 40 km above the ground. Others turn out to be aeroplane vapour trails, ‘dump and burn’ manoeuvres by Air Force aircraft, satellites, weather balloons or even, as on 19 February 2007, exploding rockets.

We invite you to report your observations here at the bottom of this page. Other people may wish to comment on your observations if they have seen the same object or seen something similar at another time.

When leaving your observations please give as much detail as you can including

– Where you were – reports without a location will not be posted
– The time
– The direction you were looking (north, east, south, west or in-between)
– How high up you were looking (horizon is 0° elevation, half way up is 45° and directly overhead is 90°)
– How long you saw the object
– The direction the object was moving
– Whether it was clear or cloudy
– Whether you could see the Moon or Venus or any other astronomical object
– Describe what you saw

We welcome reports from around the world, however we are unable to respond to international reports.

Thank you

4,532 responses to “Lights in the sky”

We just saw in Lugano, Switzerland at about 10:00 pm hundreds of small lights that looked like stars, moving together, across the night sky. They were moving towards West. The lights were gradually moving up in the sky rapidly and they were moving in one big group. One thing for sure is that they were not stars, stars do not move, they only blink. It was very strange and while looking they kept moving west and higher, slowly disappearing.

5.18am 23/8/17 – Budgewoi Australia – I just woke up and looked out my window in an easterly direction (approximately in a 2 o’clock direction) and saw a 1-2 second white flash in the sky – it looked like a star that just flashed on like a torch and flashed off – it was not moving and was just below another slightly larger star to its top right. The skies are clear and I’m not sure where Mars or Venus is in relation to this ‘star’.

August 19, 2017. Cannington, Ontario, Canada. Counted 12 bright orange round objects moving from nortwest direction to southeast. Some were one at a time, two groups of two and one group where there were 3 fairly close together. There was no sound, nor did they flicker but remained solud orange until lost from sight. Time was 10:05 pm. Could see no moon but stars were visible. We are very close to a flight path but airplanes usually travel from northeast to southwest. These travelled horizontally from over my house and did not burn, but remained as bright orange balls.

-Where you were
Patong Beach, Phuket, Thailand
– The time
3/4am, I was on the beach w/ a friend after just arriving in the country
– The direction you were looking (north, east, south, west or in-between)
East
– How high up you were looking (horizon is 0° elevation, half way up is 45° and directly overhead is 90°) –
I was looking in the distance at the mountains which were pretty tall.. reaching a height around where the clouds would usually be
– How long you saw the object
Around 5 minutes
– The direction the object was moving
Vertically into the sky
– Whether it was clear or cloudy
Clear
– Whether you could see the Moon or Venus or any other astronomical object
The moon was in clear vision
– Describe what you saw
I saw a bright light, looked similar to an airplane but the light was not flashing, the object was moving at average speed, I saw it rise from the top of the mountain (baring in mind, it’s very hard to reach the top of the mountain due to height and the mountain was purely trees and nature) and move vertically in a straight line directly into the sky, higher and higher until it faded into the sky. Took about 5 minutes to get from the peak of the mountain till it faded into the sky, I stared at it non stop till it disappeared.

California, Los Angeles , panorama city
At 10:15pm
North west
45 degrees halfway
I saw it for 2 seconds maybe 1
The object was flying south
The night sky was clear and I saw it clearly
I couldn’t see the moon bc a building was blocking it
I was sitting down facing the direction I said up there hanging out with friends when I look bc I see two yellow lights in the shape of a plane basically the two lights would be at the end of the wings looked like a fighter jet but it was going insanely fast it like first I’m looking at it just by looking up with my eyes then I kept seeing it fly over I had to tilt my neck till I was looking sorta straight up but it was o ly a second that I saw it I said “what ######## is that!” Then my friends look up but it disappeared in front of my eyes even the trail it was leaving dissapeared completely I was tripping out so bad bc no one saw it

Saylookout me and my homeboy was coming home from work Friday well sat morning about twelve 15 in gladewater thx we were looking at the moons irregular shape and saw what seemed to be a plains in the sky but it had lights like a car and no blinking Ines and when it passed over going away from us it disapeered. Couldn’t see nothing weird huh

Where you were – Nottingham, UK
– The time 10:45 – 11:15pm
– The direction you were looking (north, east, south, west or in-between) North wesg
– How high up you were looking (horizon is 0° elevation, half way up is 45° and directly overhead is 90°) 45 degrees
– How long you saw the object. 10-15mins
– The direction the object was moving
Moving from the north and eventually was heading east
– Whether it was clear or cloudy
100% clear
– Whether you could see the Moon or Venus or any other astronomical object
No.
– Describe what you saw
I was watching the perseids meteor shower when I noticed a slow moving star like object travelling south from the north, fading to nothing coming back as bright as all of the other viewable stars. It must of faded in and out 20-40 times over the period of 10 minutes.. After it changed direction (heading east) it was still fading in and out but as it was just going out of view I saw it “swoosh” almost like taking a left turn in the sky heading back north.. and did not see it again.. very very fascinating to say the least lol

While driving down the road near eastgardens towards kingsford at 10 .30am on 10 th of August 2017 I looked out of my car window towards the sky and sa what looked like a round ball that was in a rainbow colour. At first I thought I was seeing things but wound down the window it was still in the sky. Never saw anything like it im my 50 years and it stayed there for approximately 10mins. Then it was gone. Does anyone else see it or is an optical illusion.

August 8 2017 9.45pm Enfield Middx U.K.
I was closing blind upstairs bedroom looking out at night sky I saw clouds in line moving west to east swirling around back and forth then moving back this went on for approx 15 minutes, some clouds small and some were in line of about 4 together. I called my husband up to witness what was happening in sky he was amazed like I was. The sky was dark and little light left in part of sky where this was happening and clouds were light as well. Not sure what this was please explain thanks.

August 8 2017 9.45pm
I was just putting blind down on bedroom window, sky was changing to complete dark with just little daylight from day I noticed in front of me group of clouds just moving from west to east quite fast, then coming back repeating this went on for approx 15 minutes different clouds formations , I called my husband up to watch and he was amazed at the sight like I was. Moon was front of house did not see it and not aware of stars etc. Was amazing to watch.

– Where you were
Bethlehem PA
– The time
1 am
– The direction you were looking (north, east, south, west or in-between)
North
– How high up you were looking (horizon is 0° elevation, half way up is 45° and directly overhead is 90°)
90°
– How long you saw the object
20 minutes
– The direction the object was moving
In circles, with me as I walked.
– Whether it was clear or cloudy
Cloudy, above the clouds
– Whether you could see the Moon or Venus or any other astronomical object
None
– Describe what you saw
A white ball of light, blurred by the clouds, about 2ft around. It was circling the buildings VERY quickly. No chance it was a flashlight, it zipped over our house, then down the street, then with me as I walked. It kept moving in a perfect 20ft circumference circle the whole time. I then saw it fade upwards. No noise.

My sister, my niece, my sister friend and her kid were just telling me about some white lights they saw last night, August 7, around 4 am. We live in McAllen, Texas, which is in south Texas bordering Mexico. They describe the lights as extremely white in shapes of wings and flickering, as if the wings were moving. They also saw a rpund aura and later a sahpe resembling a large eagle appear with the wing span opened. They said this lasted for about 20 minutes but all 4 people saw the same thing.

– Where you were – northern Ontario at Wild Goose Lake Campground near Geraldton.
– Tuesday, Aug. 1; 11:45-11:55 pm
– Looking north
– Directly overheard and followed to where the tree line blocked the view ahead
– Visible 5-10 minutes
– The direction the object was moving- north
-the object was blurry and about the size of 3-5 stars together as one blurred sphere. This had an aura surrounding it, then around that, nothing, and then another circular aura around that, so 2 rings which looked like an aura; all blurry.
– All other stars and satellites were crisp and clear and the partial moon was visible behind me
– at first I thought it was a satellite or plane but it was blurry. Looked larger than a star with 2 blurry rings surrounding it. It moved in a steady orbit about the same speed as a satellite but it got blurrier as it moved. I lost sight of it after 5 minutes because of the tree line, but it seemed to get blurrier almost fading out. Pretty exciting and freaky at the same time!

I seen the exact same here in northern mn, except there was a “satellite” in front of it… that eventually looked as I can only explain as a ship going into hyper speed… like from space movies. The blurred object continued as normal. Same day as you.

This is exactly what my group of 4 camping in the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area seen at 11:10 PM (Central). We were camped on Knife Lake at the time, all other observations are exactly as you describe.

July 29, 2017. Fairfield Maine, USA. 9:15 p.m. EST. Looking straight up. Bright white object moving North, straight line. Unsure if it’s a satellite or space debris. Weather..Clear. Can see lots of stars, however, the moon is behind me, hidden by our house. I’ve no idea where the planets are. I watched the object moving North, for about 1 minute, then it faded. It appeared to be very high in the sky, and it looked like a large star. No blinking red or white lights. I see so many of these sights nearly every clear night, all hours of the night. I am on my Android phone and can’t find a real time site so I can research what I’m seeing. Thank you.

Diego martin, Trinidad
– 10:30 pm
– east
– 0 ,45 and 90
– 5min
– west then east
– clear mostly
– was just looking at the stars towards south which were bright and very much visual
– 3rd floor ,open deck i looked to my side and saw this small red flying object that blinked green in between i saw it go very high in the sky at times and then come down low over buildings and houses ,last place i saw it was hovering over an apartment Building located on the mountain furthest from me towards the east

– Where you were – by Leeks island, 1000 islands, Canada
– The time – 10:20pm
– The direction you were looking – NW
– How high up you were looking – 30
– How long you saw the object – minute or two
– The direction the object was moving – ascended, changed direction slowly, loopy figure 8, eventually moving so far north we lost it from view
– Whether it was clear or cloudy – clear
– Whether you could see the Moon or Venus or any other astronomical object – many stars
– Describe what you saw – orange light, bright, moving with varient speed almost like a bug. We were on a boat and heard several others from nearby boats comment on the phenomena.

Where you were – on the Great Western Hwy near Prospect, Sydney NSW
– The time – 7pm
– The direction you were looking (north, east, south, west or in-between) – N
– How high up you were looking (horizon is 0° elevation, half way up is 45° and directly overhead is 90°) – 40 Degrees, then it went upwards and over
– How long you saw the object – 3 seconds
– The direction the object was moving – NW, upwards and towards NW
– Whether it was clear or cloudy – night, dark, clear (lighting available on Hwy)
– Whether you could see the Moon or Venus or any other astronomical object – not at the time
– Describe what you saw – a green orb light head up and away, in the night sky, very clear and delineated margins.

– Where you were – Blaenavon, Wales
– The time – around 5.50am on 17/07/17
– The direction you were looking – East
– How high up you were looking – around 50 to 60 degrees
– How long you saw the object – 10 to 15 seconds
– The direction the object was moving – Away from me
– Whether it was clear or cloudy – Fairly Clear
– Whether you could see the Moon or Venus or any other astronomical object – Moon was also visible but in a different area of the sky
– Describe what you saw – Two very bright star-like objects in the sky, although it was early in the morning, it had been light for a while and the sky was daytime blue so definitely not actual stars. Not planes either, far too bright and no vapour trails. One object appeared larger and closer to me than the other, close enough that I could almost make out its shape except it was so bright there was a kind of reflective distortion around it. As I watched, both objects got smaller and smaller as though they were moving away from me at incredible speed until they were so small I could no longer see them. They didn’t appear to be going in any particular direction across the sky, more like they were heading away from me straight out of the atmosphere. The whole things lasted about 15 seconds from when I first spotted them. Any ideas anyone? Never seen anything like it…….

– Where you were – Chattanooga, TN
– The time – shortly after 3am
– The direction you were looking (north, east, south, west or in-between) – north
– How high up you were looking (horizon is 0° elevation, half way up is 45° and directly overhead is 90°) – was looking up at the moon
– How long you saw the object – 2 or 3 seconds
– The direction the object was moving – east at about a 45 degree angle
– Whether it was clear or cloudy – cloudy
– Whether you could see the Moon or Venus or any other astronomical object – it moved right below the moon
– Describe what you saw – bright green light, similar to a meteor but definitely an artificial light like an aircraft, there was no flare. Quickly flew across the sky downward and disappeared in a matter of seconds

Hi there Sara i saw the same thing a green round thing with bright lights. Just saw it for few seconds and it disappeared. My also saw the light, but it wasn’t so high in the sky it was just up my house roof. Me and my wife still in shock. Can you please help us because we saw it on the same date 15th July 2017 at around 12:30am in Pakistan Punjab. Thanks we will be waiting for your reply. Yasar Riaz and Ifra Yasar

I just spotted a strange light in the sky.
It was star sized red moving north west to west direction in circling motion then changed to blue and then to white and back to red. No flashing just a single orb in a very large circle repeating cycle. Was quite a distance away so must have been a large distance covered but at satellite speed… defiantly not a satellite though.
I’m in ruislip uk… Any ideas? Vanished after about 10 mins.. just faded and vanished…